These posts were about my experience as a volunteer in the Peace Corps, but now as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV).

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Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to everyone reading this. I don't have a costume this year, but many of the kids I live with are wearing those masks from the Scream movies that came out 10 years ago.

If you read my last blog, you probably saw some big grammatical errors and I apologize for those. I thank some avid readers of this blog for pointing the mistake. I have since made the correction. Also, please let me know of an error you see on this blog and future blogs. I do type fast when I write these.

Yesterday, the family I stay with went on a small road trip to Pampanga and we drove through Dinalupihan, my training site for two and a half months. It was nice to see the old neighborhood again even if we just drove by. When we arrived, I saw a small farm with roosters and plenty of pigs (bamboy in Tagalog), it was great. I didn't realize how much I missed the farm life of waking up to roosters and other animal noises. Here in the OC (Olongapo City), I still here roosters, but not as often as I did in Dinalupihan. Anyway, this was a place I wish I had my camera, I got my photo taken with plenty of animals & friends. Luckily, one of my neighbors took my photo with her camera and I'll get to show you those in a future blog.

As I wrote in some letters to family members last week, last Monday I taught solo for the first time. It was a crazy experience. When the kids my first classes found out that their main teacher wasn't going to be there, the went wild. My afternoon classes were more forgiving. It's nice to be on break now. Every year the school gets Halloween off, but they also get November 1st & 2nd off as well. November 1st is "All Souls Day." All the families around here go to the cemetery to have a picnic and honor those family members who have passed. I guess the next day is recovery from that picnic. I will go to the cemetery with the family I am staying with here in Barangay New Kalalake, Olongapo City.

Basketball
My basketball team is 3-0. Our last game was an exciting one. They were down by 9 in the 4th Qtr and came back to force overtime. They overtook the opponent in overtime, but almost blew by fouling them and bringing them to the foul line with a few seconds left. Luckily, they missed the second free throw. We were off last week, but are back on the court this Saturday.

Shoulder update
Drum roll please. As of the last week in October, I am officially done with physical therapy. Don't worry, I still work my shoulder with the stretch band, but it's nice to have 180 degree range with my shoulder.